Oakdale residents brace for next heavy rainfall

Sunday

OAKDALE -- Flood concerns are so high in Oakdale that it doesn’t take hurricane-like storms to keep residents up at night.

“Forget about hurricanes, I’m just worried about the next heavy rainfall,” resident Luann Watts said.

Flooding has become so common in the borough that many residents don’t even recall the affects of Hurricane Sandy, one of the costliest storms ever to strike the East Coast. Oakdale’s moderate damage caused by the Oct. 29, 2012, storm was nothing compared to the July 10 storm that caused North Branch and Robinson Run creeks to overflow, resulting in an estimated $600,000 in damage to 52 homes, 15 businesses and several borough properties.

Watts, who moved to Oakdale in the late 1990s, said she’s personally spent more than $10,000 over the years to repair her home after flooding. Many of the borough’s residents are still paying off flood-related loans from Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

“I love my house and I love Oakdale, but if it floods again I’ll have to move,” Watts said. “If it floods again, this is going to be a ghost town.”

Storm water rushed into Watts’ basement on July 10, rising nearly to the first floor of her home. The water came within inches of wreaking havoc on her house’s first floor, she said. Months later, she still leaves the windows in her basement open several hours a day to air out the space in hopes of preventing mold growth.

“It’s to the point where we have to wonder if our houses are even safe,” Watts said. “Someone gets sick and you wonder if it’s a regular cold or if it’s the mold.”

While borough residents and businesses continue cleanup efforts from the damage caused by the July 10 rainstorm, borough workers have continued to pull debris from the municipality’s two creeks.

Responsible for the welfare of the borough’s bridges, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has removed more than 1,000 pounds of silt from around and beneath the bridges. State and local representatives also are trying to raise the bar for prevention efforts and repairs.

U.S. Congressman Tim Murphy, R-18, Upper St. Clair Township, is pushing for the Army Corps of Engineers to remedy persistent flooding in Oakdale, Carnegie, Bridgeville, Robinson Township, McDonald and other Southwestern Pennsylvania communities within the Chartiers Creek Watershed.

Murphy has proposed an amendment, to be submitted to the House Rules Committee, as an addition to the Water Resources Reform and Development Act.

“The best course of action for these communities and for the taxpayers is to prevent flooding, rather than foot the bill for flood cleanup, recovery and rebuilding every time there’s a heavy rainstorm in the Char Valley,” Murphy said in a written statement. “We can save taxpayers millions over the long term by working to prevent these floods from destroying local businesses, homes and infrastructure.”

In the late 1950s and 1960s, Congress directed the Army Corps of Engineers to design and build flood-control projects for Chartiers Creek and its tributaries. The initial construction project made improvements to Chartiers Creek near Canonsburg and Carnegie, but that existing infrastructure has proven incapable of controlling rising floodwaters along tributaries such as Campbells Run, Robinson Run, North Branch and McLaughlin Run.

The legislation would enable the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge and strengthen the Robinson Run and North Branch creek banks, carrying out a flood-control project that was initially authorized in 1957 but has never been conducted.

Oakdale Council President Ron “Huck” Gamble said borough officials are excited about the legislation’s potential.

“If it works out, it would be tremendous for our residents and businesses,” he said. “Obviously, it’s not an easy thing to get passed (in Congress). But taking care of the creeks is our No. 1 priority here in Oakdale.”

Oakdale officials also have been working with officials from neighboring North Fayette and South Fayette townships to determine if their storm management systems are causing any additional stress to the borough’s system.

“They’ve been very cooperative,” Gamble said. “On the whole, we’re doing everything we can to prevent flooding. We’ve had two bad ones over the year and we can’t afford to see a third.”

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.